Tag Archives: Natural England

Our first fire of the autumn!!! Today I was out with Crewe & Nantwich Conservation Volunteers again and in one of our usual haunts – Wybunbury Moss. We were working for Natural England cutting tree saplings and burning the brash.

Despite not having a fire since early spring, I managed to get today’s going first time and soon it was blazing away fed with brash, thick and thin, for over four hours. As usual, there were plenty of signs of wildlife around with a strangely coloured frog the highlight of the day plus bands of winter thrushes passing through.

We rounded the day off with some chestnuts roasted on the fire – perfect!!!

It seems ages since I was last out with Crewe & Nantwich Conservation Volunteers (CNCV); in fact, it was the Christmas task when I last attended a task. Today, I was out with them at Wybunbury Moss, clearing trees from a wet pasture and burning the resulting brash. We also set about removing a fence that split the pasture in half.

This task also signalled the end of the winter season for CNCV as it was the last time we could have a fire before the bird breeding season starts. This is a sad day as far as I’m concerned – having a fire is one of life’s great pleasures!

There were signs that Storm Doris had been passed as there were a number of trees felled trees dotted around the nature reserve. It was still quite blustery and the cycle out to the task this morning was tougher than usual but the journey back when much quicker with the wind behind me!

Just before I left, there was a large mixed flock of starlings, redwings and fieldfares making a racket in nearby trees. Perhaps winter hasn’t finished with us just yet.

I spent this morning with Crewe & Nantwich Conservation Volunteers (CNCV) out at Wybunbury Moss doing a task for Natural England. I missed the last task two weeks ago, and with the early weather looking sparkling, I was keen not to miss another.

The group is a frequent visitor to the Moss and we have worked in today’s particular spot a few times over the past couple of years. We were removing trees to soften the edge where the woodland meets wet pastureland on the outside of the Moss. The strip that we have cleared so far has transformed over the summer, turning from a big patch of mud to an area of lush reeds and regrowing coppice. This regrowth of the understorey plants will provide good habitats for breeding birds over the coming years but we will no doubt have to return to the cleared areas every so often to cut it back again.

Unfortunately, I could only stay for the morning – I had work to do – but at least I could go out for part of the day and enjoy the first fire of the autumn, it had been a while!

Today was the Christmas Task for the local conservation group I volunteer with and like last time out we spent the day at Wybunbury Moss National Nature Reserve.

Today’s task was to make good use of the burning platform that we built from logs a fortnight ago. Natural England has been working at the site over recent weeks and our task was to burn the brash left behind by the tree removal operations.

It wasn’t all work and at lunch, with the fire having burnt through most of the brash, it was time to get stuck into the Christmas food. Soup, potatoes and mince pies were followed some time later by the sausages I cooked over the hot embers of the fire.

To finish off the day we had (non-alcoholic) mulled wine and chestnuts roasted over the last of the fire’s heat – proper Christmas food – and all consumed under a rare clear and bright blue sky.